When he came to write his Requiem, Brahms chose to do away with the fire and brimstone of divine judgement. Instead, he crafted an incredibly human, spiritually comforting work made for those left behind. `Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted’, the work begins.

To open, Karl-Heinz Steffens, formerly Principal Clarinet in the Berlin Philharmonic, performs Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet with members of the Philharmonia.

For his Clarinet Quintet, Brahms took formal inspiration from Mozart’s own, written a century previously. His creation is endlessly expressive, spun from a delicate, seemingly unbreakable series of interweaving melodic lines.